Riordan is a ruthless warrior whose foes tremble before him in his drowned and ruined world. The last thing he wants to do is go undercover as a weakling to spy on his clan’s enemies. Much less with Eiryn - a fierce warrior in her own right and the only woman Riordan’s never been able to forget. He knows that a single touch will throw them straight back into that same old uncontrollable fire. But this time, he might just let them burn.

Eiryn has been betrayed too many times. An escape into a dangerous mission where she can pretend to be the soft, biddable female she’s not seems like the perfect solution. She’s sure she can control the fiery passion that simmers between her and Riordan, the man she’s spent years pretending to hate. After all, the unquenchable lust that flares between them now is all for show… isn’t it?

My Review:

I love how Crane sets the stage for what’s to come with the powerful prologue that includes the history of the peoples and what came out of it. She sets the stage and develops the world in such a manner that you can really picture the state of the world and the ensuing hardness of the characters. I got a sense of post-apocalyptic Vikings from the Raiders. It was almost like what MCs would be like if they lost their bikes. It was intense at times. She also definitely presents the Church in an interesting light. The way that it all ties together was fascinating.

I did find that it took a while to really get into the heart of the story. For me, the plot lagged a bit. It was definitely a very character baste story as they learned more about the mainland culture.

Crane created what had the possibility of being an intensely exciting plot and populated it with characters who quite frankly annoyed me at times. Eiryn and the choices that she made were quite interesting. She really packed a punch in all aspects of life. Riordan’s ‘this is me on the inside, this is me on the outside’ routine also got old after a while.

I love the dystopian world that Crane has created for this novel (and series) but had a hard time fully getting into the plot. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed it, but it was missing that “can’t but it down, need to know what happens next” factor for me.